Call To Arms Pt 2
by Ghostwriter
Summary: HISB The battle continues and a Ranger is seriously injured.
1. Divided

CALL TO ARMS PT 2

DISCLAIMER

Power Rangers belongs to Haim Saban and Nickelodeon. I only own the plot, subplots, and characters you don't recognize. And I just realized that I forgot to put Curtis in with the other hostages in the last fic, but he **is** there.

Goldar's sword came crashing down, slicing Jason's wrist as it landed and causing the teen to cry out in pain from the hard impact as well as the pierced skin. _Pain! Pain! Pain!_ his mind screamed as blood began to flow, joining the blood that had already poured from his right shoulder. Goldar raised his sword again and summoning his strength, Jason managed to scramble away, jumping when the sword clanged on the ground. _Come on! Get up!_ he urged himself. He gritted his teeth, placed his hands on the floor and stood up, ignoring the pressure, he put on his arm as he stood up. Then, he hurried towards another row. _Okay, okay. Think. You don't have your powers, you're hurt, how can you gain the upper hand?_ he thought. He looked at the mirrors. He had to find the way out. _Wait a minute. Mirrors, reflections…that's it!_ Jason thought to himself. He peered out from the row.

"Hey Goldar! Come and get me!" he dared. With a roar, the griffin gave chase and Jason kept the creature at bay by continually disappearing on him. Goldar's eyes darkened. So the Red Ranger wanted to toy with him? _Forget destroying him slow! He's dead!_ he decided. He charged into one of the rows. Seeing Jason, he summoned energy from his sword and thrust it at the Ranger. Jason quickly jumped out of the way. Goldar's eyes widened when his attacked bounced off of the mirrors and headed for him. The griffin tried to flee the assault, but wasn't fast enough. Jason sighed in relief when he heard Goldar's roar of pain and anguish, which was followed by a loud explosion. He took a risk and peeked around the corner. In the place Goldar had been standing was a pile of ashes and his sword. _Yes! It worked!_ he thought in relief as he walked up to the remains, cradling his wrist. Now all he had to do was get out of this place. He picked up the sword. _Now let's see…where's the exit?_ he wondered. Panting, he began to retrace his steps. Meanwhile, Dark Heart had found his attack unhindered as the other Rangers fought Rita's other minions. The lion laughed darkly as electricity enveloped by fire covered his sword. With a roar, he thrust the flame at the Ferris Wheel. _Yes. Empress will be pleased with the amount of destruction that I'm causing_, he thought to himself. And best of all, no one was able to stop him. At the park's entrance, Rita smirked at her captives. _Soon the Power Rangers will fall and the world will be mine_, she thought to herself. Life was grand. Justin looked at the others. _They all look as freaked as I feel_, he thought to himself.

"Justin, what if they didn't make it? What if that witch's minions won?" Hilary asked softly.

"Doubt it. If they had, they'd be here gloating. Jason and the others are still fighting," Justin replied in the same tone.

"They've never let us down before. We have to believe that they'll rescue us," Angela added in a murmur. _Please be careful, Zack. I don't want to lose you_, she thought to herself. While this was going on, Zack and Billy had made it all the way to an attraction known as The Pitch Maze. _Funky title_, Zack thought to himself as he and Billy went in. _And yet it works_, the Black Ranger's thought continued as he struggled to see through the darkness.

"You think anyone's in here?" Zack whispered to Billy who shrugged. Then, they heard muffled thumping. Without a word, the two followed the sound. As they went further into the attraction, the thumping became louder and the Black and Blue Rangers soon became aware of voices. Then, there was a sudden flash of light.

"It's Rito!" Billy gasped quietly and they hurried towards the monster. Once they were close enough, Billy let out a kick, hitting the skeleton.

"Hey! What gives!" Rito yelled in outrage. Who had snuck up behind him?

"Who's here?" Rocky wondered.

"It's me and Zack," Billy responded.

"All right," Aisha sighed in relief. _Maybe now we can gain the upper hand_, she thought.

"Two more of you, huh? Well, that won't save you," Rito sneered as he brandished his sword. _These stupid teenagers have no clue who they're messing with_, he thought to himself. He was going to destroy them all. Then, he lunged at them, resulting in pained cries as the Rangers landed against a wall.

"Guys, we gotta work together!" Tommy shouted.

"Right," the others agreed.

"Gather your Dino Energy," Tommy instructed and they all reached out towards one another. Instantly brilliant lights of green, white, black, blue, gold, purple, and silver appeared, illuminating the attraction. Seconds later, the Rangers found themselves morphed. Instantly, the all pulled out their weapons, put them together, and fired at Rito. Rito began to teleport away, but wasn't fast enough and with a terrible cry, exploded into a thousand pieces. _Yes! One down!_ the Gold Ranger thought in relief. Now all they had to do was destroy Goldar, Scorpina, Rita, and whatever monster Rita had sent down. Then, the Rangers carefully made their way out of the maze.

"Come on, let's find the others," the Green and White Ranger declared and they all headed out.


	2. Power Fight

DISCLAIMER

Power Rangers belongs to Haim Saban and Nickelodeon. I only own the plot, subplots, and characters you don't recognize.

While this was going on, Jason had finally made it out of the Hall Of Mirrors and was running through the fairgrounds, trying to find any of the other Rangers, periodically trying his communicator, as Kimberly, Katherine, and Trini were dealing with Scorpina.

"Feel my sting!" Scorpina shouted, and she threw her boomerang at them. The girls let out pained cries as the weapon hit them, causing them to fall to the ground. _Man, that's gonna leave a mark_, Kimberly thought to herself. _She's a lot tougher when we don't have our powers_, Trini silently mused. _Come on. Get up_, Katherine encouraged herself. Scorpina let out a triumphant laugh.

"And I thought female Rangers were supposed to be tough. What are you waiting for? One of the boys to come to your rescue?" she taunted. Kimberly, Katherine, and Trini looked at each other, narrowed their eyes, and climbed to their feet. Meanwhile, in the Command Center, Alpha was frantically trying to reverse Rita's spell on the theme park.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi! This is terrible!" the robot exclaimed.

"You must keep trying, Alpha. We have no guarantee that the other Rangers will be successful in summoning the full potential of their Dino Spirits or that Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Billy, and Zack will be able to remain morphed for much longer," Zordon cautioned.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!" Alpha cried again. _Hold on, Rangers. I'll figure this out_, he thought. He just had to figure it out. There was no way he was going to leave his human friends on their own. Then, coming up with an idea, he punched in a series of commands. Zordon's eyes clouded with concern. Though he was relieved that the energies of Goldar and Rito had disappeared, he knew the Rangers still had to face Scorpina, Dark Heart, and Rita. While he had no doubt that they could handle Scorpina and the monster, they had never taken Rita head on and he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't more than a little concerned at the thought of the teens battling the space witch. Suddenly, the Command Center rang out with a series of rapid beeps and alarms.

"Hooray! I've done it!" Alpha exclaimed over the noise.

"What have you found, Alpha?" Zordon questioned.

"I've traced the origin of Rita's spell that's jamming the communication and morphing frequencies," Alpha answered. "Apparently, it's coming from the moon, though there's no indication of what on the moon gave Rita the strength to the spell. After all, a spell of this magnitude is heavy-duty," he answered.

"The spell must have a weak spot. We must find it before it's too late," Zordon said.

"Right," Alpha agreed and went back to work. After a few minutes, he let out an exclamation of frustration. "Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi! Maybe I should just go to the moon and see if I can find the origins of the spell there," he stated.

"No, Alpha. Rita would be able to sense you there and might send her minions to destroy you. The Rangers and I would not be able to forgive ourselves if something were to happen to you," Zordon told him. Alpha nodded. He knew Zordon was right. He and the Rangers had become like a family to each other. They would do anything for one another. But there **had** to be **some** way to break the spell over the fairgrounds! "I don't understand, Zordon! I'm picking up a signal, but I can't find anything!" Alpha exclaimed.

"Try our new infrared scanner, Alpha," Zordon instructed, mentioning a tool that had recently been devised.

"Right," Alpha agreed and then punched in the command for the program. He waited anxiously as the scan started. _Come on, come on, come on, come on!_ he thought to himself. He had to help his human friends. He watched as the scanner continued to search. Then, the Viewing Globe switched to show Dark Heart destroying downtown Angel Grove.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi! If only we could get a communications out!" Alpha exclaimed. After realizing that they couldn't reach the Rangers, he and Zordon had tried to reach Dex in Leawood, but found that they couldn't even do that. Meanwhile, in the fairgrounds' parking lot, Lightning let out a small engine-sounding whine. There was something wrong. He could feel it. He had to find Jason, the boy who drove him. The Mustang looked around cautiously. Good. No one was watching him. He carefully got out of the spot that he had been parked in and then zoomed away. He had to find Jason. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Revving his engine worriedly, he headed for the main part of the fairgrounds. In the Command Center, Alpha and Zordon had finally discovered what was blocking off their communication with the Rangers.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi! It's some kind of dome!" Alpha exclaimed.

"We must destroy it at once," Zordon determined. "See if you can create a beam that will do so."

"Right." Immediately, Alpha began programming in a command. _I hope this works_, he thought. They needed to get rid of that beam so that the Rangers could morph and send Rita and her minions packing. Several minutes later, he had created a beam that was mixed with particles from the Morphing Grid as well as the spell that Rita had created.

"All right. Here goes nothing," Alpha said and with a press of a button, aimed the beam at the dome and began the task of penetrating the dome. Then, the robot and wizard watched worriedly. _Oooh! Please let this work!_ Alpha thought to himself. While all of this was going on, Scorpina had finally overpowered Kimberly, Katherine, and Trini. Throwing her head back, she let out a booming laugh and pinned Kimberly to the ground with a foot. Trini and Katherine struggled to rise, but the repeated hits from Scorpina's boomerang had left them weakened. _Come on. You can do this_, Kimberly silently coached herself. There was no way she was going to let Scorpina win. There had to be a way to get the upper hand. Scorpina let a cruel smile grace her lips.

"Say goodbye, Pink Ranger," she taunted, brandishing her boomerang.

"Kim!" Katherine and Trini chorused together. Kimberly's eyes flashed. _No way is she destroying __**me**_, she determined. Then, she heard a small roar, as if her Dino Spirit had heard the thought and the girl clenched a fist. A wave of power surged through her, and-Scorpina cried out in surprise as a burst of pink light knocked her off of her feet. A loud screech filled the air and Scorpina, Katherine, and Trini looked to see a pink pterodactyl hovering in the air.

"Kim?" Katherine and Trini gasped. _Morphinominal_, Trini thought. _I don't believe it_, Katherine silently mused. Before Scorpina could get her bearings, the pterodactyl rushed in, its beak wide open. Then, it clamped down on the warrior's weapon and with a mighty tug, pulled it away from Scorpina. Scorpina watched in horrified shock as the dinosaur crushed her weapon with a mighty SNAP! _It can't be! That much access to the Morphing Grid is impossible!_ she thought. Besides, it was just the Pink Ranger. There was no way she'd **ever** be connected or strong enough to truly morph…right? In the Command Center, Zordon and Alpha were still concentrating on destroying the dome around the fairgrounds.

"A little more power, Alpha. The task is almost complete," Zordon said. Alpha programmed in more power. Finally, they saw the beam caused by Rita's spell disintegrate.

"Hooray!" Alpha cheered and as he said this, the globe switched over to show the fight between Kimberly, Trini, and Katherine.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi! Kimberly has fully accessed the Morphing Grid!" Alpha exclaimed in surprise when he saw that the Pink Ranger was now a pterodactyl.

"I must admit, even I didn't realize that she was this connected to it," Zordon stated as they saw Scorpina's weapon being destroyed. Then they watched as Kimberly created gusts of wind with her wings, knocking the golden-clad warrior back.

"That's showing her, Kim!" Alpha encouraged. Meanwhile, Lightning was racing all over the carnival grounds, trying to find Jason. The car's engine whined nervously. Where was the boy who drove him? Something was wrong. He could feel it and he didn't like it. Suddenly, he caught sight of a figure in red. With excited beeps, he hurried towards the human. Hearing and seeing his car almost at the exact same time, Jason grinned in relief as he struggled to maintain conscious. _Finally. I wasn't sure how long I could hold out_, he thought to himself. The blood loss had been slowly getting to hm.

"Lightning," he said gratefully. _Thank goodness_, he thought. The car door opened and Jason stumbled into the car. The revving of the engine was the last thing Jason heard before slipping into unconsciousness.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Remember, I indicated in "Decisions Of Pink" that Kimberly's connection to the Power ran deeper than the other Rangers, hence the reason why she actually changed into her dinosaur rather than just morphing.


	3. Re Powered

DISCLAIMER

Power Rangers belongs to Haim Saban and Nickelodeon. I only own the plot and characters you don't recognize.

At the park's entrance, Rita frowned. There was something wrong. She had sensed a decrease in power. Her eyes narrowed.

"I'll be back!" she snarled and then teleported out. Justin, Hilary, Zane, Tina, Curtis, Chris, Angela, Bulk, Skull, Tyler, Ritchie, and Marge looked at each other worriedly.

"This can't be good," Curtis muttered to himself. While this was going on, Scorpina was trying to get a shot at Kimberly, but the girl-turned-dinosaur moved too fast for her.

"You think we should help Kim?" Katherine whispered.

"Does it really look like she needs it?" Trini countered and Katherine shook her head as the pterodactyl dive-bombed Scorpina. Suddenly, a pink light filled the sky. Squinting, Katherine and Trini were just able to make out the silhouette of the pterodactyl grabbing Scorpina and wrapping its wings around the warrior. The golden-clad creature let out a final scream before there was an explosion. When the light disappeared and the dust had settled, Kimberly was back to normal and all that was left of Scorpina was a pile of ashes.

"Whoa. That was weird," Kimberly stated.

"That was morphinominal," Katherine told her.

"Come on, let's go find the others," Trini suggested and they all ran off. Suddenly, a strange feeling of warmth flowed through them.

"What in the world?" Katherine wondered.

"My powers don't feel blocked anymore," Kimberly answered.

"Mine don't either," Trini realized.

"It's gone. Whatever was blocking our powers is gone," Katherine stated. Just then, their communicators went off.

"We read you, Zordon," Kimberly stated. Then, she, Trini, and Katherine shared relieved smiles when they heard the other Rangers chime in.

"Rita has sent a lion known as Dark Heart to the fairgrounds. He is incredibly powerful and ruthless. You must do battle with him before rescuing your friends," Zordon stated. "But be on your guard. One of Dark Heart's abilities is his capability to burn the goodness out of a being," he continued.

"We're on it, Zordon," Rocky assured.

"May the Power protect you," Zordon said. From various locations, the un-morphed Rangers morphed and then teleported to where Dark Heart was.

"Rangers," the lion growled. Then, he charged at them and the Rangers immediately pulled out their weapons. As they fought, Rita materialized on a platform, her eyes blazing as she gripped her scepter. _Destroy my dome! Kill my minions?_ she thought furiously. She summoned her magic, which traveled up her scepter. Then, she pointed it at the Rangers who cried out in surprise.

"It's Rita!" the Black Ranger exclaimed. _When did she get here?_ he wondered as he dodged another energy blast from the witch's scepter.

"You'll never defeat Dark Heart. Just give up," Rita cackled.

"No way!" the Green and White Ranger shouted.

"DESTROY THEM!" Rita shrieked. With a roar, Dark Heart charged at the Rangers, brandishing his sword. He grabbed the Green and White Ranger who grunted and tried to break free. The other Rangers raced towards them, only to be knocked back by a blast from Rita. The Rangers let out of groans of pain as they fell to the ground. The Green and White Ranger groaned as he struggled against the monster's grasp as he felt a familiar power flow through him. _No…I can't let this happen_, he thought. He had to fight. If his goodness was stripped away, he'd be used against his friends. He couldn't let that happen again. With another groan, he summoned as much of his Ranger energy as he could. As if sensing their friend's struggle, the other Rangers looked towards him. _Tommy, don't leave me_, the Pink Ranger thought to herself. She stretched an arm out towards him and concentrated her energy. Following her lead, the other Rangers did the same. Instantly, particles of blue, yellow, black, pink, gold, purple, silver, and brown traveled through the air and entered the Green and White Ranger, who inhaled sharply and let the power flow through him, joining with his own energy. Rita wasn't going to get her hands on him. They wouldn't let her. The Green and White Ranger clenched a fist as he let his own Ranger energy mix with the Ranger energy that had been given to him. Suddenly, beams of light burst forth from the Ranger, knocking Dark Heart back. Immediately, the Green and White Ranger brandished Saba and the Dragon Dagger. Dark Heart let out a confused growl. This was impossible! How had the Ranger been able to fight back? He had almost had him!

"DESTROY HIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!" Rita shrieked. Growling, Dark Heart once more brandished his sword and charged at the Green and White Ranger who blocked the incoming attack. The Ranger played a few notes on his Dragon Dagger, which caused his shield to give out a greenish glow. Dark Heart summoned energy to his sword and then threw it at the Ranger. To his surprise, his attacked bounced off of the shield and hit him. The lion bounded through the air and brought his sword down, hitting the Ranger, who let out a cry and fell to the ground. Dark Heart hauled him to his feet and then once more attacked. The Green and White Ranger did his best to deflect the blows, but found the monster to be a better swordsman than he was. The other Rangers started to head for the fighters only to be cut off by a blast from Rita's scepter. The sorceress laughed heartily. Meanwhile, Lightning was whizzing down the streets. Jason needed help. He had fallen unconscious, which was bad. He could sense it. The car revved its engine and headed down the street. As he raced down the street, a member of the Angel Grove Police Department noticed him and gave chase, blaring his siren. However, the car didn't slow down. _What is with this guy?_ the man wondered. Why wasn't he slowing down? And for that matter, where was he? He couldn't even **see** the driver. The man pulled out a megaphone.

"You in the mustang! Pull over and turn off your engine!" he shouted and to his relief, the driver did as they were told. He got out of his car and walked up to the other vehicle. To his surprise, the only person in the car was an unconscious Jason.

"Wha-how?" he gasped. "Lt. Stone, I have an-**unusual**-situation here," he said and then went on to explain what he was seeing.

"What!" Lt. Jerome Stone gasped. _That must've been what that report was about earlier_, he thought. "Bring him to Angel Grove Community Hospital immediately," he ordered. Hearing the command, Lightning roared off. The officer stammered.

"Right away, Sir," he managed to say. Then, he got into his patrol car and followed the mustang. When the cars got there, Lightning hurriedly honked his horn, causing the paramedics to race outside. When they saw him, they immediately put him on a stretcher and wheeled him in as the officer notified Lt Stone who called Jason's parents, none of them realizing that everything had been seen through the Viewing Globe in the Command Center.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay, I'll admit, the idea of Dark Heart being able to burn the goodness of a being was inspired by The Judge in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer which belongs to Joss Whedon, but I thought it'd be cool here. Dark Heart's attacking bouncing off of Tommy's shield was inspired by GWEP5. And I have Jason in the hospital because of the blood-loss.


	4. Rangers Down

DISCLAIMER

Power Rangers belongs to Haim Saban and Nickelodeon. I only own the plot, subplot, and characters you don't recognize. Reference to GWEP4 and a varation of a line from GWE4 is used.

Several minutes later, Ryan and Tracey Scott as well as Lt. Stone were at Angel Grove Community Hospital, discussing Jason's condition with one of the doctors.

"I don't understand what exactly happened," Tracey stated. "He and his friends were at the fairgrounds celebrating Katherine's birthday," she continued.

"Mrs. Scott, I don't know what to tell you, other then in my professional opinion, it looks like your son got into a **very** serious fight, losing a lot of blood in the process," the man stated. Tracey gasped and Ryan put his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. "We were able start transfusions right away and he's stable," the doctor hastened to assure. "Whoever found your son did so in the nick of time," he stated. Meanwhile, the other Rangers had convened in the Command Center and after checking Tommy who was leaning against a console, had turned their attention to finding Jason.

"Tommy, are you sure you're okay?" Kimberly asked.

"I'm a little shaky, but I'm all right," Tommy assured.

"Zordon, where's Jason?" Rocky wondered.

"He is at the Angel Grove Community Hospital," Zordon told them.

"WHAT!" they all asked, turning to the Viewing Globe.

"From the snippets we were able to retrieve from the Globe's memory, apparently Jason was greatly injured in a battle with Goldar and his car sped him away," Zordon replied.

"What are we going to tell his parents? I mean, we can't just morph and say he got caught in the crossfire because they'll wonder why we weren't injured as well, or not visiting him," Katherine pointed.

"Kat's got a point," Billy agreed.

"And we can't tell them that he got hurt fighting Goldar without risking his identity," Zack commented.

"Zordon, what do we do?" Trini asked.

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi! What a dilemma!" Alpha exclaimed.

"Rangers, I cannot tell you what to do. This affects you only," Zordon told them.

"But it involves our identities, which you told us to keep secret," Tommy said.

"We can't expose our identities. Jason wouldn't want us to," Kimberly declared. "Besides, we have a bigger concern right now," she added.

"Kim's right. He'd want us to focus on Dark Heart," Rocky agreed.

"But how are we even going to fight him short of throwing our Power Weapons at him?" Aisha asked. "I mean, if we even get close to him, he could do to us what he tried to do to Tommy," she reminded.

"If only we could ascertain his origin of susceptibleness. If we did that, we could strategize on how to defeat him," Billy mused.

"Yeah, but he doesn't seem to **have** a weak spot," Trini responded. "He's pure evil," she continued.

"So, what are you guys saying? That we're history?" Kimberly asked. _No way! I'm not givin' in to that!_ she thought to herself.

"We can't think like that! Our friends are counting on us," Tommy reminded them.

"But it seems so hopeless," Aisha sighed. _Rita's finally made a monster that's unbeatable. Why shouldn't we give up?_ she wondered.

"Hey, we thought we were out when Tommy cut us off from Zordon and destroyed the Megazord, but Jason told us to keep fighting because the world needed us…and so did Tommy once we realized he was under a spell," Zack reminded them and then gave an apologetic look to Tommy, who waved it off.

"But Jason's not here!" Aisha reminded.

"Guys, it's not that bad! Zordon's here, we have our zords! We still have a chance!" Zack encouraged.

"I'm with them. I say we keep fighting," Rocky agreed.

"So do I," Adam stated.

"But Aisha brings up a valid concern. How can we even battle the monster when coming in close proximity with him gives him an advantage?" Billy wondered.

"And what do we tell Jason's parents?" Katherine wondered. Before anyone could respond, the Command Center's alarms blared. As one, the Rangers turned to the viewing globe to see Dark Heart in downtown Angel Grove.

"Great. Guess who's back," Aisha griped.

"And Rita's made him grow," Trini noted.

"It's time to go to work," Tommy declared authoritatively. "Back to action!" Immediately, they were at the location.

"I call on the Power of Thunder! Drago-Tigerzord!"

"Raptor Thunderzord Power!"

"Mastodon-Lion Thunderzord Power!"

"Pterodactyl-Firebird Thunderzord Power!"

"Drago Thunderzord Power!"

"Stega Thunderzord Power!"

"Brachio Thunderzord Power!"

"Triceratops-Unicorn Thunderzord Power!"

"Saber-toothed Tiger-Griffin Thunderzord Power!" The zords came at the Rangers summons and the teens jumped into the machines.

"Okay, guys! Let's pull it together!" the Pink Ranger encouraged. Dark Heart laughed and pulled out his sword.

"You pathetic humans are no match for me!" he boasted. The Blue Ranger pressed a button on his zord and the Triceratops's grappling hooks zoomed out and wrapped themselves around Dark Heart. Immediately, the Black Ranger activated his zord's deep freeze. Dark Heart cried out in pain and surprise as the ice covered him. Then, his eyes flashed angrily. So, they thought it'd be as easy as that to defeat him, did they? Well, he'd show **them**! He shook the ice off and then powered up his sword.

"I don't believe it! He shook free!" the Black Ranger exclaimed. _That hardly ever happens!_ he thought. Then, he let out a blast that landed in the middle of the zords, causing the Rangers to pull back.

"Alpha, we need Jason's zord to form the Thunder Megazord!" the Green and White Ranger cried into his communicator.

"Coming right up, Tommy," Alpha promised and the robot pressed a command on the computers and instantly the Tyrannosaurus-Red Dragon Thunderzord came from its hiding place and joined the other zords.

"Convert to Thunder Megazord!" Instantly, this was done. Dark Heart powered up his sword, and then thrust the energy at the zord. The Rangers cried out in surprise as the zord shook. The zord pulled out the Thunder Saber and then powered the sword up. Seeing the incoming attack, Dark Heart quickly jumped to the left, dodging the blow. Then, he latched onto the Thunder Megazord with energy from his sword.

"I can't get it free!" the Gold Ranger shouted.

"Power's dropping rapidly!" the Blue Ranger reported.

"Come on! We gotta get free!" the Purple Ranger encouraged. However, no matter what they did, they couldn't get free.

"We're down to fifty percent!" the Blue Ranger exclaimed. _Come on, Billy! Think!_ he encouraged himself. There had to be a way to stop this from happening! But it was no use: energy from Dark Heart's sword continued to drain the Thunder Megazord. "We're down to twenty percent!" the Blue Ranger cried minutes later. There was a shower of sparks and the Rangers were evicted from the Thunder Megazord with a collective cry. With roars of pain, the machines went back to their hiding places. Hurriedly, the Rangers teleported.

"He drained the Thunder Megazord. I can't believe that just happened," Aisha said in shock.

"We got our butts kicked," Trini added. "It's over. Rita's won," she said. With a frustrated yell, Kimberly threw her helmet across the Command Center.

"I don't want to hear that!" she yelled.

"Kim," Tommy began.

"No! Did any of you see Scorpina out there?" Kimberly asked. "Well, did you?" she challenged.

"No," the other Rangers answered.

"How about Rito? Or Goldar?" Kimberly continued.

"Well, we destroyed Rito in the Pitch Maze," Billy recalled.

"And Trini, you, Kat, and I destroyed Scorpina," Kimberly reminded.

"Well, **you** did," Katherine corrected.

"**We**," Kimberly insisted. "And Goldar wasn't there. So it stands to reason that he was destroyed too," she continued.

"Or maybe Rita's just holding him back," Rocky pointed out.

"No, not from a major fight. He's her top general," Kimberly corrected.

"Kim has a point," Adam agreed.

"And now you all just want to give up because of one little set back?" Kimberly demanded.

"'Little set back'?" Zack asked. "That thing trashed the zords!" he shouted. He walked up to her. "Get it through your head, Kim: Dark Heart was Rita's trump. She played it and won," he snapped.

"No way. Jason wouldn't accept that and neither will I," Kimberly dismissed.

"I'm with Kim," Tommy agreed.

"Me too," Adam chimed in.

"Rangers, I realize that the odds seem overwhelming, but you mustn't give up," Zordon counseled.

"Zordon and I monitored the fight, trying to find a weak spot," Alpha told them.

"Any luck?" Kimberly asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Alpha replied.

"And we still have to figure out what to tell Jason's parents," Tommy sighed.

"Rangers, if you feel that there is no other choice, you have my permission to reveal your identities to the Scotts," Zordon stated. The Rangers inhaled sharply.

"Wow," Kimberly said softly. Then, "Billy, how long will it be before the zords are fully recharged?"

"At least twelve hours. It was a pretty hard hit," Billy answered. They turned to the viewing globe where they saw Dark Heart tearing up Angel Grove. Kimberly turned to Tommy.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"I don't know," he answered.

TO BE CONTINUED…


End file.
